a number of≠the number of

a number of与the number of两个比较容易混淆的短语，尤其是当它们作主语时，其谓语的单复数形式很容易被弄错。要解开他们之间的疙瘩，其中的奥妙就在下面。     

The quasi-experimental attitude of teachers: the development of a questionnaire

This article reports on the development and testing of a questionnaire that can be used to measure the quasi-experimental attitude (QEA) of teachers. This attitude is reflected in the willingness of teachers to assess and organise their core activities (planning, implementing and analysing lessons) by analogy with experiments in the field of research, in order to gain meaningful experiences from this cyclical process, to evaluate critically these experiences and to draw from them conclusions on how to improve lessons in the future. The sample comprised 512 trainee teachers who had already been teaching independently for 15 months following the conclusion of their university studies. The analysis of the questionnaire showed that the reliability of the scale was satisfactory. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the assumption that the quasi-experimental attitude could be modelled in two ways: A first-order model with four intercorrelated factors (meticulous lesson planning, confidence in the predictability of how the lesson will turn out, evidence-based analysis of the lesson and scepticism about mere experience) and a second-order model in which these four factors are loading on the overarching factor QEA. Additionally, the instrument yielded plausible correlations to several validity criteria.     

Exploring a World of Number: a case study of the use of CD‐ROM in schools

ABSTRACT

This paper contains a case study of the use of a CD‐ROM in a Sheffield secondary school. Nine groups of students tackled a mathematical investigation presented through a video clip on the CD‐ROM The World of Number. The paper outlines three stages within the process of mathematical investigation and discusses the contribution of the CD‐ROM material to each stage of the students’ thinking. It concludes that the CD‐ROM successfully oriented students by engaging their attention and by illustrating the object of the investigation. The paper argues that The World of Number materials are most likely to be used in a self access setting even if this was not the specific intention of the designers. It discusses ways in which the materials could be made more suitable for self access work and argues that the role of the teacher is critical within self access learning. Finally, it is suggested that future CD‐ROM materials might contain a mix of expository material, games and additional resources such as text and statistical data.     

Making the grade: a history of the A–F marking scheme

This article provides a historical interpretation of one of the defining features of modern schooling: grades. As a central element of schools, grades—their origins, uses and evolution—provide a window into the tensions at the heart of building a national public school system in the United States. We argue that grades began as an intimate communication tool among teachers, parents, and students used largely to inform and instruct. But as reformers worked to develop a national school system in the late nineteenth century, they saw grades as useful tools in an organizational rather than pedagogical enterprise—tools that would facilitate movement, communication and coordination. Reformers placed a premium on readily interpretable and necessarily abstract grading systems. This shift in the importance of grades as an external rather than internal communication device required a concurrent shift in the meaning of grades—the meaning and nuance of the local context was traded for the uniformity and fungibility of more portable forms.     

Managing the expectations of non‐traditional students: a process of negotiation

In the past decade there has been a dramatic growth in UK student numbers. Widening participation policies are encouraging students from non‐traditional backgrounds to enter higher education. Southampton Institute has found that many non‐traditional students have had little preparation for academic life. These students often have unrealistic expectations of higher education, expectations that sometimes are at odds with a successful transition from secondary to higher education. In addition higher education institutions are often unaware of the way that higher education is perceived by non‐traditional students. This situation cannot remain unchecked and requires some form of discourse. In this paper, a framework used to model a reflective discourse between stakeholders (student, institution) is introduced, and a case study demonstrating the behaviour of an automated negotiation mechanism is presented.     

Teachers’ expressions of craft conscience: upholding the integrity of a profession

How can teachers who quit claim to be dedicated to upholding the integrity of the profession? Paradoxically, and not without costs, leaving teaching may be an expression of an educator’s professional ethics. This investigation applies insights from A.O. Hirschman’s Exit, Voice and Loyalty to the context of teaching in order to reveal the expressions of professional ethics in teachers’ resignation letters. These concerns constitute what Thomas Green calls ‘craft conscience.’ Using philosophical inquiry and document analysis, I examine 15 publicly available teacher resignation letters from the United States that were published on the internet between 2012 and 2014 to examine the pedagogical, professional, and democratic components of craft conscience.     

‘In the sunshine’: a case study exploring the impact of a CETL award scheme

This article explores the impact of an award scheme provided by one of the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs). The award scheme provides financial and other support for lecturers teaching higher education in colleges of further education. Award schemes are common to most of the CETLs and have also been provided in some institutions. The article discusses findings from a focus group discussion held with recipient practitioners. The focus group discussion was part of a study of the impact of the CETLs on reward and recognition for teaching, funded through the Higher Education Academy. The article locates the award scheme in the wider context of the national CETL initiative and in the changing structure and function of further education. The impact of the award is examined in terms of the opportunities and benefits experienced by the individual lecturers and also in terms of the impact on the wider policy agenda of the CETL initiative to improve reward and recognition for teaching.     

The curriculum as a site of counter politics: theorising the ‘domain of the sayable’

Whilst there has been increasing focus on the impact of neoliberal education policy on the curriculum covered in schools, as well as on teacher and student subjectivities, less research has been done on the possibility, or otherwise, for teachers to challenge curriculum constraints. Arguing that these curriculum constraints are not simply imposed by an external censor, this article takes up Judith Butler’s concept of the ‘domain of the sayable’ to theorise what it is possible to imagine teaching in the primary school classroom in the first place. I draw on two different ethnographic data episodes to explore the parameters of the domain of the sayable in the space of the classroom in which I taught, mapping the silences and sudden swerving away from topics that seem to be straying close to what is impossible to say or hear. This process offers new insight into how we might conceptualise teacher resistance and counter politics within the current educational policy milieu in the United Kingdom.     

Hands-on history: towards a critique of the ‘everyday’

The modern Turkish state and society have been greatly influenced by reforms of the education system. Second Constitutional Period reforms can be viewed as the preparatory stage of Republican reforms and a time when many of the later reforms were planned and given limited application. In this way both periods contributed to the foundation of modern Turkey. The innovations pioneered by Late Ottoman intellectuals stemmed from various origins, mostly European positivists and materialist philosophers. American pragmatism was added as an ideological source during the foundation of the Republic. It can be observed that ideological trends took root from Ottoman times according to the degree that intellectuals were affected by them. In this paper, the ideological origins of educational reforms during the Second Constitution Period have been studied in relation to the influence of European philosophers on Ottoman intellectuals of the time and their ideological environments. Late Ottoman intellectuals were found to have been largely affected by France’s positivism, German’s materialism and Comte, Durkheim, Büchner and Spencer. The paper reveals how modern Turkey’s educational philosophy parameters have been shaped by these intellectuals’ ideas.     

Doctoral students on the university–industry interface: a review of the literature

Doctoral students are highly important in university—firm relationships, since they are significant producers of knowledge in collaborative research projects, they are an important channel for knowledge transfer between universities and firms, and are vital in network configurations between firms and universities. An increasing number of doctoral students interact with firms, but we know relatively little about the experiences of these students or how collaboration influences their training, research and subsequent careers. With this in mind, this paper presents a literature review of (1) theoretical assumptions concerning the roles doctoral students are expected to fulfill in university–industry relationships, and (2) empirical research of doctoral students’ interaction experience and outcomes of doctoral student-industry interaction. The aim of the paper is to develop hypotheses for further research on doctoral student—industry interaction.     

The stark reality of the ‘White Saviour’ complex and the need for critical consciousness: a document analysis of the early journals of a Freirean educator

While the anglophone academic literature has long engaged in analysis of the role of privilege in the work of educators in the Global North, this article represents an initial foray into such analysis in non-formal educational settings in the Global South. Through a cultural-textual document analysis of 12?months of personal journal entries written by the author while working as a Freirean adult educator in Mozambique, this article documents a lack of recognition of social privilege exhibited by the author in these entries, which is here referred to as the ‘White Saviour’ complex. This article also documents how the pursuit of what Freire calls ‘critical consciousness’ can effectively problematise this privileged mindset.     

It's a knuckleball: a critical case study of a collaborative between a university and the ‘real world’ of school leadership

This is a look at the political games within games that are enmeshed in a high-profile, heavily funded, politically charged collaborative focused on preparing new school leaders between a large prestigious university and a circle of school leaders and policymakers. This case specifically considers how power and money corrupt the original vision and mission of a collaborative, in terms of its consideration of school and its purpose in society.     

A discipline apart: the challenges of ‘Fostering a Community of Learners’ in a mathematics classroom

This is the fifth in a series that examines the challenges that teachers in different domains face as they attempt to implement the pedagogical reform ‘Fostering a Community of Learners’ (FCL). Here we focus on the relationship between FCL and the teaching of mathematics. We argue that it is possible to teach mathematics through the FCL pedagogy, but that doing so requires some rethinking of both mathematics instruction and FCL. In particular, we describe three shifts that aided a teacher's implementation of FCL pedagogy with mathematics: the teacher developed a new perspective on mathematics that emphasized the importance of having students learn both mathematical concepts and processes; the teacher developed a new understanding of the role of the teacher in mathematics‐education reform; and the teacher modified his understanding of FCL, coming to believe that a discourse community could be the basis for FCL pedagogy in a mathematics classroom.     

Why the Computer is not Dominating Schools: a failure of policy or a failure of practice?

Despite the hyperbole that has continually surrounded the area of educational computing, for the last 20 years the computer has noticeably failed to permeate the school setting. This has traditionally been attributed to a failure of educational practice to adapt to, and provide for, the educational ‘IT revolution’. However, this article argues that a wider critique of educational computing should be adopted if‐we are to really understand the apparent failure of computers to be integrated into the compulsory educational setting. By examining how educational computing has been, and continues to be, constructed in both educational policy and discourse, the article considers how this ‘writing’ of educational computing is fundamentally at odds with the structure of the school organisation it is meant to merge with     

‘Catholic schooling with a twist?’: a study of faith schooling in the Republic of Ireland during a period of detraditionalisation

The role of faith-based schools is increasingly debated within a context of school reform, rights and plurality in multi-ethnic societies. The Catholic schooling system in the Irish Republic (always referred to as Ireland in the text) represents an interesting case internationally because of the extent to which Catholic education is structurally embedded as normative across the education system. Yet, Ireland is in a process of detraditionalisation and wider societal change. Drawing on Bourdieu and Bernstein, and a mixed methodological study of Catholic secondary schools, the article presents a typology of Catholic schooling in transition. This identifies a continuum of Catholicity among the study schools that is mediated by dynamics of social class in an increasingly competitive and diverse system. It is argued this has implications for considering the role of a recontextualised model of Catholic faith schooling, underpinned by principles of social justice in a multicultural and more secularly oriented society.     

Controlling response shift bias: the use of the retrospective pre‐test design in the evaluation of a master's programme

Traditionally the measures used to evaluate the impact of an educational programme on student outcomes and the extent to which students change is a comparison of the student's pre‐test scores with his/her post‐test scores. However, this method of evaluating change may be problematic due to the confounding factor of response shift bias when student self‐reports of change are used. Response shift bias occurs when the student's internal frame of reference of the construct being measured, for example research ability or critical thinking, changes between the pre‐test and the post‐test due to the influence of the educational programme. To control for response shift bias the retrospective pre‐test method was used to evaluate the outcomes achieved from students completing a research module at master's level. The retrospective pre‐test method differs from the traditional pre‐test–post‐test design in that both post‐test and pre‐test perceptions of respondents are collected at the same time. The findings indicated that response shift bias was evident in that the programme had significantly greater impact on outcomes than identified using the traditional pre‐test–post‐test design leading to the conclusion that students may overestimate their ability at the commencement of an educational programme. The retrospective pre‐test design is not a replacement for the traditional pre‐test–post‐test measures but may be a useful adjunct in the evaluation of the impact of educational programmes on student outcomes.     

“Rocking the boat”: Developing a Shared Discourse of Resistance

The purpose of this critical ethnographic study is to provide an account from within a public school of some of the ways that heterosexist discourses and silences are reproduced and challenged. As a classroom teacher and critical ethnographer, I conducted this research with straight-identified high school students as they came to understand, problematize, and interrupt heterosexism and straight privilege. Unlike many of the students, teachers, and administrators in the school who colluded in the maintenance of heterosexism, through a critical inquiry and student-initiated activism, these students identified as allies and “rocked the boat” to challenge the discourses, silences, and invisibility that supported a heterosexist school culture.